Preliminary Findings

 I started my data journey by analysing my target groups beginning of year STAR and PAT reading comprehension tests. I am always interested in find out raw scores (how many questions were actually answered correctly), the scale scores and stanines. Here are the results of my target group.

Unfortunately we had a technical glitch which didn't allow Student G1 to complete her test in order to generate a mark. 

One of the things I always find fascinating in analysing students test results is to look at their raw scores. How many questions our of the 37/38 questions in the test, did they actually get correct. As shown in the table above, only half the students managed to get more than 10 questions correct.

It's important to also note that the students whose test was out of 37 questions sat a slightly easier test that the rest who had 38 questions. This was because the students had already been identified as high needs in reading and writing in general. 

Another source of data gathering I conducted was collecting student voice. The list of questions and answers will be discussed in my next blog post.

My weekly reflections have been very useful. I have used my groups modelling books to take notes of vocab/attempts students have made as well as ideas being shared. This was to initially help with report writing comments coming up later in the term, but I've also found upon reflection that it works with my next steps for some students. 

One of the things which I didn't count on was having a student teacher. This meant I had 2 weeks of observing while she taught my classes. This gave me an opportunity to get some 1-1 time with my target learners, unpacking some of their thinking processes and ideas around school and reading in particular. This also will be discussed together with the student voice survey carried out.

Historic Hikoi with Nagti Paoa

 I can hand on heart say this was one of the most powerful, insightful, greatest learning experience I've had in my 15 years of teaching. As part of our partnership with Ngati Paoa, our teachers at Pt England experienced a part 2 session with Hayden and Crystal with a historic hikoi to certain sites around the area which told stories of how things came about for them as people of Ngati Paoa.

Here is a map of our trek on Thursday 1st April.

There were many favourite parts to the day but one I did find fascinating was listening to the battles which happened at Mokoia. Learning about the different Taniwha's and where the name Mokoia derived from - Mokoikahikuwaru. Another exciting part I look forward to is the building of the Marae at Te Whanake - Just next to the Pt England Reserve now. Just listening to the stories and making connections with names I've heard before and getting to know the history behind street names and historical sites. So much to take in! I cannot wait to share this same experience with our learners! Well worth the sore feet at the end of the day! Thank you to everyone involved in making this day possible.

Tools, Measures & Approaches

Building an accurate profile of students' learning - tools, measures and approaches...

Describe the tools/measures/approaches you plan to use to get a more detailed and accurate profile of students’ learning in relation to that challenge. Justify why you chose these approaches and tools.

Kahui Ako Achievement Challenge 5: Increase the achievement of Years 7-10, in reading, writing and maths, as measured against National Standards and agreed targets.

My inquiry problem/ challenge: Year 7 and 8 students who are 'stuck' at the reading ages of 8-9 years old.  Some of the problems I've been faced with already are the types of reading material available for this reading age, but not suitable or interesting enough for this age group (11, 12, 13 year olds).

To measure how much 'new knowledge' or reading strategies students are learning or picking up, I plan to use the following tools and approaches:

PAT/STAR/e-asTTle/ARBs/Running records:

I plan to analyse the PAT closely and group the types of questions students struggled on. STAR is a great indicator of sentence structures and vocabulary acquisition and meaning. This can be done 1-1 with students who have completed the STAR test. Filling the gaps is a great task to work out sense making, if learners even know what a grammatically correct sentence sounds like.

Use of e-asttle mini tests and ARBs will also be beneficial for testing out specific reading strategies/comprehension skilss taught in short weeks. This can be done as a before and after mini test. 

Running Records can be of use when you are wanting to take note of particular reading behaviours. These are very useful using the PM readers up to Level 30.

Student Voice:

This has been very useful and informative in my past inquiries as sometimes the way you think the lesson went doesn't always match up with how students feel. Gaining student voice before, during and after an intervention in a great way to gauge whether something is working, and students are interested in what they are learning.

Plan/Reflect Weekly: 

This is very important to carry out as well as monitor. Plan on how I will go about the intervention, then reflect each week on whether it needs changing or if it on the right track. Completing reflections straight after a reading lesson can sometimes be difficult so jotting down notes to self on the modelling sheets or on the board with student initials as students are learning will be great in helping to gather evidence at reflection time.

Who are my Learners?

 My target group consist of 8 Year 7&8 students who's reading ages range from 8 - 9 years old. 5 girls and 3 boys.

G1 - Year 8 currently reading at 8.5 years old. She attends class regularly and looks like she pays attention. Upon group check ins, most of the time she has sat there doing nothing. Her reading is very static, and often needs to repeat after me to hear a more fluent sentence.

G2 - Year 7 currently reading at 8.5 years old. She is able to decode fluently but often does not take in what she is reading. We've had multiple tries at re-reading or scanning a text for key words we discuss in group time.

G3 - Year 7 currently reading at 8.5 years old. She comes off as quite confident in group situations. However when reading 1-1, she reverts back to doubting herself and comprehending what she has just read.

G4 - Year 8 currently reading at 8.5 years old. A second language learner to English. She has only been in our NZ schooling system for 2 years. Very confident with playground language, but struggles forming her ideas about a text. She decodes very well and can sound out unknown words confidently. 

G5 - Year 8 currently reading at 9 years old. She is able to complete set tasks but can totally miss the mark with comprehension questions at times. Literal questions are simple for her but anything to do with opinions or providing supporting evidence she tends to get confused with.

B1 - Year 8 currently reading at 8 years old. A second language learner to English, he made great shifts in 2020 from a reading age of 5.9 to 8 by the end of the year. He is currently already 13 years old turning 14 this year.

B2 - Year 7 currently reading at 9 years old. He tends to rush through a lot of things from tasks to reading. But when asked to slow down, he struggles to put into words the work he is struggling with. Vocabulary acquisition is a big thing for him. He often forgets a lot of new vocab from day to day group discussions. 

B3 - Year 8 currently reading at 9 years old. A second language learner to English, he moved made a whole years shift from 8-9 years old in 2020. He is more able this year in navigating his way independently through his learning. His reading and writing make more sense, and he normally helps out B1 with his daily tasks. 

This here is a brief summary about my target group this year. There are 2 more students in this group but for tracking purposes, I have purposely left them out due to frequent absenteeism. 

Later on this term, I hope to have a more complete profile of my learners using student voice survey, as well as academic data from beginning of year tests. 

Inquiry focus 2021

 Starting the year with provocations from Rebecca Jesson always get be excited for the teaching and learning journey for the year ahead. As part of our Manaiakalani cluster report for 2020, it was very clear what we needed to work on: Reading and Maths.

My 2020 inquiry looked at maths and helped me pick out just a few surface reasons why nearly half my class was failing in maths. Unfortunately, due to covid, we didn't get to unpack this inquiry into any deeper level of understanding due to the limited face to face time, and sharing of equipment when we did return back to school.

This year I would like to have another go at tackling reading. I inquired into reading in 2019 and this was a huge success. The difference then was that I was focussing on the very tip of the tail students, and finding ways to fill in some of the huge gaps very fast. A lot of them simply needed age appropriate texts at a lower reading level.

As CoL members, we are looking to work collaboratively to strengthen our inquiry in terms of what we are trialling and also sharing ideas with a collective rather than on our own. For this I am hoping to work with Kelsey Parrant and maybe one other member looking at students 'stuck' at the reading ages 8 - 9.5. Kelsey being in year 5/6 and my class being year 7/8. 

I look forward to our inquiry focus this year.